Role of Microorganisms in the Evolution of Animals and Plants
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 56965
Special Issue Editors
Interests: microbiome; holobiont; hologenome; microbiota; corals; evolution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The concept of microorganisms playing a role in the evolution of animals and plants was suggested because of the realization that all animals and plants harbor diverse microorganisms that affect the fitness of their hosts. Subsequently, interest in this field has grown exponentially, though the dynamics and complexity of microbiomes and their interactions with hosts are only beginning to be understood. This conglomerate of host and its microbes, including bacteria, archaea, protists and viruses, has been termed holobiont, metaorganism, and superorganism. During the last decade, the extent to which host/microbiome interactions affect the fitness of animals and plants has become a major theoretical and applied research topic. Another subject that has attracted attention and been demonstrated in some systems is the transmission of microbiomes and their genes between generations, though the generality of this has been challenged and needs further research. Consideration of the holobiont with its hologenome as a level of selection has led to previously underappreciated modes of genetic variation and evolution that also have to be examined theoretically and experimentally. In this Special Issue, we invite scientists to contribute articles on the different topics associated with the role of microorganisms in the evolution of plant and animal (including human) holobionts with the aim of a better understanding of how these complex systems adapt and evolve.
Prof. Eugene Rosenberg
Dr. Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg
Guest Editors
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Keywords
holobiont
hologenome
microbiome
evolution
plant-host interaction
animal (including human)-host interaction
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